Refrigeration apparatus



1961 E. E. SANDERS EI'AL 3,010,291

REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Filed Nov. 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS 62141042121040:

United States Patent 3,010,291 REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Ernest E. Sanders, 8247 Cheyenne Ave., and Garland E. Sanders, 16514 Huntington Ave., both of Detroit, Mich. Filed Nov. 2, 1959, Ser. N 850,224 13 Claims. (Cl. 62-252) This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to a commercial unit embodying multitemperature compartments, and to the construction thereof.

In commercial establishments, frozen foods and prodnets are stored in a compartment covered with sliding doors which are opened to provide access thereto by the customer. Usually these doors remain open for long periods of time, thus exposing the refrigerating compartment to room temperature, necessitating operation of the refrigerating unit pretty constantly.

It is the object of our invention to produce a commercial unit capable of being more efiiciently operated by I minimizing heat losses and utilizing a cabinet structure in which the sub-freezing compartment is exposed primarily for the most part only to the refrigerated compartment of above-freezing temperature and not to room temperature.

Other details of construction are herein shown and claimed covering such features of construction providing ease in door operation and means for minimizing spilling of the cold air from the sub-freezing compartment.

For a more detailed understanding of our invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing showing a preferred embodiment thereof in which like parts are referred to by like characters throughout the several Views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cabinet structure embodying our invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view section taken substantially on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view of the sliding door construction and baffie, and

FIG. 5 is an electrical diagram showing the hood-up of the control mechanism for actuating the refrigerating apparatus and the heating unit.

The hereinafter described refrigerating apparatus embodies a cabinet structure provided with a sub-freezing compartment 11 and a higher temperature compartment 12, maintained usually at a temperature of around 40 F. The cabinet has a solid rear wall 13, side walls 14 and a front wall 15 having a door opening 16 provided preferably with a pair of overlapping sliding doors 18. These doors are slidably supported in tracks 19 carried on a mullion 20 provided with parallel door guides 21 and the cabinet has guides 22 slidably supporting the upper edges of said doors.

The refrigeration cabinet herein illustrated is provided with refrigerating apparatus, preferably a separate unit for the sub-freezing compartment and the above freezing compartment. Any standard refrigerating apparatus may be utilized and this preferably include a freezing coil 25 located in the sub-freezing compartment and a freezing coil 26 located in the upper freezing compartment. The cabinet is provided with a shelf 27 preferably of insulating material which extends from the rear wall of the cabinet towards the front wall but is spaced from said front wall to provide an opening 28 placing said compartments in open communication and providing for customer access to the lower or sub-freezing compartment.

The refrigerating apparatus employ the usual control mechanism comprising a standard clock device for periodically shutting off the refrigerating means for defrosting the coils. The front wall of the cabinet supports a bafiie 30 preferably of a multi-ply glass construction which is located closely adjacent the outside of the mullion 20 so as to minimize the spill of cool air from compartment 11 out of the door when it is opened for purposes of allowing the customer to have access to the contents of the compartments.

A heating unit 31 is secured by any suitable means to the mullion 20 and is preferably disposed in heat transference relation with respect to the lower portion of the sliding doors which overlap the baffle 39 and with respect to the door tracks. A similar type heating element 33 is associated with the refrigerating coil 25 and with the drain pan 32 carried by the cabinet and located immediately below the aforesaid refrigerating coil underneath said shelf 27. This heating element 33 is preferably connected in series with the heating element 31, and is operated to melt ice accumulations about the coil unit 25 and the drain pan 32 as clearly shown in FIG. 3.

The mechanism of the control box 42 includes a conventional electrical switching mechanism 40 which is operable to periodically deactivate the refrigerating apparatus and to connect the heating elements 31 and 33 with a source of electric current for defrosting the refrigerating coils 25 and 26. The heating element 31 is thus activated to remove any ice accumulation from the lower part of said doors 18 and the door tracks carried by the mullion 20. Preferably the heating elements aforesaid are timed for operation with the deactivation of the refrigerating unit so that when the coils are defrosting the heating elements are turned on to remove ice and dry the surfaces.

A suitable drain 39 is connected with the pan 32 to drain moisture from said coils during the defrosting operation. It is noted that the heating element 33 is also disposed to quickly remove ice accumulation from the pan 32.

It will be noted that compartment 11 is in open communication with compartment 12 and thus the load on the refrigerating means which serves the sub-freezing compartment 11 is considerably lessened, because the compartment 11 is in open communication for the most part, not with the room but with the refrigerated compart ment 12, and thus the temperature differential between said compartments minimizes heat losses and results in a more economical operation of the refrigerating means that is utilized to service the sub-freezing compartment 11.

It will also be noted that the use of a transparent baffie 30 permits a customer to actually see the contents of the sub-freezing compartment very readily, and the bafile being so closely adjacent the glass doors serves as a shield for same, minimizing the accumulation of moisture on said doors.

In the cabinet of the invention, it will be noted that shelf 27 may be utilized to store products for display as are also shelves 45 mounted in the upper compartment 12. It will also be noted that the refrigerating coil is spaced from the bottom of shelf 27 to allow for circulation of air under the shelf and about said cooling coils to facilitate the efficient refrigeration of said subfreezing compartment.

A conventional electrical hookup is illustrated in FIG. 5, which shows a switch 40 controlling the connection to the main source of electrical energy, such as line 41 to the controller 42, a conventional clock actu ated mechanism for periodically cutting out the current to the refrigerating units 43 and 44, and at the same time turning on the current to the heating units 31 and 33. Obviously any suitable control mechanism may be employed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which our invention pertains, that while we have illustrated and described one preferred form of the invention, various changes and modifications in construction may be had without departing from the spirit of our invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two adjacent compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a baffie carried by said cabinet structure disposedrelatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment.

In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two adjacent compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a baffle carried by said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment, said cabinet structure provided with a door closure support slidably supporting the lower edge of said door closure and disposed adjacent to thelower exterior edge of said bafiie.

3. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a baffle carried by said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment, said cabinet structure provided with a door closure support slidably supporting the lower edge of said door closure and disposed adjacent to the lowerexterior edge of said'bafile, a heating element located intermediate the door and bafile adjacent the door closure support, and means periodically activating the said heating element.

4. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having atleast two compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezin-g compartment and having an extended portion par-.

tially overlapping said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment, said cabinet structure provided with a door closure support slidably supporting the lower edge of said door closure and disposed adjacent to the lower exterior edge of said bafiie, a heating element located intermediate the door and bafiie adjacent the door closure support, defrosting mechanism for said refrigerating means and including refrigerating coils and a control means for periodically defrosting said refrigerating coils and activating said heating element. a

5. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having a rear wall, a front Wall and side walls, an upper and lower compartment, an insulating shelf separating said compartments and extending from said rear wall, the front edge of said shelf spaced from the cabinet front wall to provide -a communicating opening between said compartments, refrigerating means for said compartments producing sub-freezing temperatures in said lower cornpartment and above-freezing temperatures in said upper compartment, said refrigerating means comprising a refrigerating coil structure in said sub-freezing compartment and located immediately below said shelf, a heat-, ing element disposed in heat transfer relations with the aforementioned refrigerating coil structure, and a control means periodically operable to deactivate "said refrigerating means for defrosting said refrigerating coil and to activate said heating element a door opening in said front wall for said upper compartment and a door for said door opening;

6. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having a rear wall, a front wall and side walls, an upper and lower compartment, an insulating shelf separating said compartments and extending from said rear wall, the front edge of said shelf spaced from the cabinet front wall to provide a communicating opening between said 7 compartments, refrigerating means for said compartments producing sub-freezing temperatures in said lower compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said upper compartment, said refrigerating means comprising a refrigerating coil structure in said sub-freezing compartment and located immediately below said shelf, a heating element disposed in heat transfer relations with the aforementioned refrigerating coil structure, and a control means periodically operable to deactivate said refrigerating means for defrosting said refrigerating coil, and to activate said heating element a door opening in said front wall for said upper compartment and a door for said door opening, said refrigerating means comprising separate refrigerating units for each of said compartments.

a 7. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment, said cabinet structure provided with a door closure support slidably supporting the lower edge of said door closure and disposed adjacent to the lower exterior edge of said baffie, a heating element located intermediate the door and bafHe adjacent the door closure support, defrosting mechanism for said refrigerating means and including refrigerating coils and a control means for periodically defrosting said refrigerating coils and activating said heating element, said control means being operable to time the activation of the heating element simultaneously with the defrosting of said refrigerating coils.

8. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a baffle carried by said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely refrigerating coil structure, and a control means for activating both said heating elements.

9. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two adjacent compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a baflie carried by said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door sub-freezing compartment, said baffle comprising a transparent structure extending substantially the full width of said cabinet structure and visually exposing the contents of said subfreezing compartment, said door closure comprising a transparent door structure.

10. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two adjacent compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefore comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and having an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a bafile carried by said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment, means restricting air from circulating directly between said compartments over said below-freezing producing means.

11. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure having at least two adjacent compartments in open communication with each other, refrigerating means therefor comprising means producing sub-freezing temperatures in one compartment and above-freezing temperatures in said other compartment, a door closure for said above freezing compartment and ha -ing an extended portion partially overlapping said sub-freezing compartment, and a bafiie carried by said cabinet structure disposed relatively closely adjacent to said door closure and shielding said extended portion from said sub-freezing compartment, means restricting air from circulating directly between said compartments over said below-freezing producing means, said restricting means comprising a solid shelf of insulating material extending from one side of said cabinet structure,

the means producing sub-freezing temperatures comprising refrigrating elements disposed beneath said shelf.

12. In a refrigerating apparatus, a cabinet structure providing a compartment defined by front, rear, top, bottom and side walls, a door opening in said front wall, door closures for said door opening, a shelf extending forwardly from said rear wall at an intermediate point between the top and bottom walls and having its front edge spaced from the front wall of the cabinet structure, said shelf extending substantially the full width of the cabinet structure from side wall to side wall, said shelf providing a horizontally extending partition dividing the compartment into upper and lower chambers disposed in open communication with each other, a refrigerating unit in said upper chamber and located substantially adjacent to the upper portion of the rear wall and operable to maintain above freezing temperatures in said upper chamber, a second refrigerating unit mounted in said lower chamber underneath the said shelf and relatively closely adjacent to the rear cabinet wall and to the underside of said shelf, said second refrigerating unit operable to maintain sub-freezing temperatures in said lower chamber, said shelf being located and arranged to generally prevent intermingling for the most part of the air currents in said above freezing upper chamber with the air currents of the sub-freezing lower chamber, said door opening exposed for the most part to said above freezing upper chamber, said opening between the front edge of said shelf and said front wall providing an access opening to said sub-freezing lower chamber.

13. A refrigerating apparatus as defined in claim 12 in which the lower edge of the door opening is located below the plane of the shelf, and a door baffle extending upwardly from the lower edge of the door opening closely adjacent to the rear face of the door closure, the upper edge of said bafile being disposed substantially flush with the plane of the shelf.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,572,855 Ottenheimer Feb. 9, 1926 1,979,625 Knapp Nov. 6, 1934 2,106,909 Evans Feb. 1, 1938 2,201,265 Hill May 21, 1940 2,492,695 Henderson Dec. 27, 1949 

